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MILLTOWN — The demolished building that was once home to the Michelin Tire Co. at the corner of Ford Avenue and Main Street from 1907 to 1930 lies in seemingly endless piles of bricks. But despite the demise of the plant, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, which was founded to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of Michelin’s Catholic French workers, has flourished over the past century.
The Michelin plant, which employed more than 2,000 workers, was the company’s first factory in the United States. Published reports say when it closed in 1930, most of its French workers returned to their homeland.
On Oct. 30, the Greco-Romanesque church was the site of a Mass to celebrate the parish’s 100th anniversary. The celebration had been delayed because of the COVID-19 or coronavirus pandemic. Bishop James F. Checchio presided at the Mass and gave the homily.
To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the parish, which is led by Father Edward A. Czarcinski, who has been pastor since June 2006, had planned a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, in honor of its namesake. COVID-19 put a halt to those plans, but the parish was energized in the spring by the visit of a national tour of relics of Bernadette Soubirous, also known as St. Bernadette (1844-1879), who experienced Marian apparitions at the site.
The Our Lady of Lourdes 100th Anniversary celebrations began with a gala at the Pines Manor, Edison, October 2021, in celebration of “One hundred years with Jesus and Mary.”
After the recent Mass, Father Czarcinski expressed his gratitude to the current members of the parish.
“I want to point out my thanks to Jesus and Mary for our wonderful people,” he said. “They have been intrepid in the midst of many challenges over the past years and yet they responded with customary enthusiasm and devotion during the centennial and for the hundred years before. I’m privileged to have been with them for a quarter of that time and know that they will stay in God’s loving care for centuries to come.”
In his homily, Bishop Checchio said the Gospel of St. Luke (19:1-10), showed how Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, was the “perfect example of discipleship.”
“As we celebrate 100 years of this parish, he is certainly a good person to look at and pay attention to in our reflection,” the bishop said. “Zacchaeus accepts Jesus’ invitation to friendship and he welcomes the Lord into his home. Not everyone was pleased about that and that Jesus was establishing a relationship with such a sinner. For this reason, we are told, the crowd began to grumble and murmur.
“This moment was a critical one for Zacchaeus as he had an important decision to make. He must decide whether he will back away from his relationship offered by Jesus, and accept the identity as a sinner, by which the crowds so identified him. Or will he choose to follow this new identity — a disciple of Jesus and the challenges of this new life. It is at that critical moment that he gives half his possessions to the poor and he repays anyone whom he had cheated.
“These actions are what true discipleship looks like.”
